At Frankfurt’s Bonechina – the latest venture from the Lindenberg group who are also behind the Libertine Lindenberg hotel – the humour begins even before you step in. For starters, the charming three-storey shingled block that dates back to the mid-18th-century on a cobbled street features an old-fashioned signboard. Hanging off the side of the building, its rebus declares the pre-emptive alibi of the evasive criminal: ‘I was at home last night’.
Step inside, and the interiors are so entirely unexpected, it’s almost as if you’d accidentally wandered onto the set of a grown-up version of ‘Alice in Wonderland’. For this, hats off to Studio Aberja for conceiving a bar in which there is a literal elephant in the room. About the size of a St. Bernard, the all-blue porcelain pachyderm – its trunk spurting tonic water – was created by sculptor Marc Rammelmüller and stands astride a broad-based plinth that doubles as the bar. Meanwhile, unevenly jointed, diamond-cut ceramic tiles in shades of blue and anthracite ripple in a glossy wave around the walls of the bijou room. These are inset with shallow timber-lined vitrines that hold objets and pot plants.
Bonechina’s other conceit is the absence of a bartender. Instead, guests, once roused from the backless wooden benches and deep backed stools, gather around the elephant to mix their own drinks. The ice-cubes are infused with Vetiver and sandalwood, whilst whiffs of yuzu and bergamot float from hidden aerosol diffusers, proving once again that not all bars are created equal.
ADDRESS
Grosse Rittergasse 64
60594 Frankfurt
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